(June 13): Japanese investors sold the largest amount of foreign debt in nine years amid a shift in global central bank policy.

Net sales totalled ¥2.65 trillion (US$16.9 billion or RM79.30 billion) in the week through June 7, the most since April 2015, preliminary figures from Japan’s Ministry of Finance showed on Thursday. That followed purchases of ¥2.3 trillion in May. Last week saw an interest-rate cut by central banks in the eurozone and Canada as well as weak US data on manufacturing and job openings.

“It is likely that banks sold large amounts of Treasuries in proprietary trading,” said Shoki Omori, the chief desk strategist of Mizuho Securities Co in Tokyo. “They have been accumulating shorter-tenor US bonds and saw a good opportunity” to take profit following data on manufacturing and job openings, he said.

The preliminary weekly data don’t provide details such as types of bonds sold. Fukuhiro Ezawa, the head of financial markets in Tokyo at Standard Chartered Bank, said investors may have sold foreign notes with high hedging costs to buy Japanese government debt.

“JGB yields were rising towards the end of last month, and local auctions last week met strong demand,” he said.

Sales of 10-year notes on June 4 and 30-year bonds on June 6 both drew a higher cut-off price than traders estimated. Yield on the longer-tenor debt reached the highest since April 2011 on June 3 and has fallen since then.

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